United States presidential election, 1908

The United States presidential election, 1908 was held on 3 November 1908. Popular incumbent Theodore Roosevelt, fulfilling his promise to not seek a third term, persuaded the Republican Party to nominate his close friend and Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, as the party's nominee; he chose James S. Sherman as his running mate. The Democratic Party chose to run a liberal candidate this time, choosing William Jennings Bryan as its nominee; John W. Kern was his running mate. Bryan remained extremely popular among the liberal and populist elements of the Democratic Party, and he ran a vigorous campaign against the nation's business elite. However, the Republicans defeated him with 321 electoral votes to his 162.